


More Than Lucky, Less Than a Gamble

by paburke



Category: White Collar, X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-09 04:17:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1141322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paburke/pseuds/paburke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years ago, Charles Xavier visited one of Byron's gambling joints.  June could be forgiven for not recognizing him now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. More Than a Poker Game

*

The white kids didn’t belong. They were rich, far richer than any other in the club.

June noticed them first since Byron was playing the back table. The man –honestly, he was barely twenty- stepped in first. He glanced over the busy room. He didn’t react to the fact he was one of six white men in the club. The blonde girl was a step behind. She wasn’t happy, but June didn’t think that it was because they were on the wrong side of town.

June approached them, trying to keep the peace with the other customers.

“We could fit in,” the girl was murmuring. “Just let me…”

“No, Raven,” the boy ordered her. “We’re here for an entirely different experiment.” The boy saw June and smiled at her. “Good evening, madam,” he addressed her as if she was a beautiful, rich, white woman. There was nothing patronizing in that smile. “We’re looking for a poker game. Is there any to be had?”

June should have said ‘no.’ These two were nothing but trouble. Then Ezra decided that such rich marks were too good to leave alone. Ezra brushed by the man, picking his pocket.

Unsuccessfully.

The man caught his hand and retrieved his wallet, only to place it in his other pocket. He never took his eyes off of June. He was calm, the perfect conman under pressure. The girl though –there was something ugly –mean- in her eyes. 

“Calm down, Raven,” the boy said. He looked at Ezra and brushed his fingers against his temple (a tell?). “Sit in your chair and stay there until we leave.” Ezra turned to do just that. The boy smiled at June once again. “A poker game?”

Byron’s winnings had been slim recently. This boy could put a lot of money into play. June smiled at him. “Of course, if you’ll give Lily your hat and coats…” Lily stepped right up to do her job. “Right this way.”

The boy had perfect manners, June noticed, as he introduced himself and his sister to the whole poker table. Byron lifted an eyebrow at June and June offered what she thought the Charles Xavier’s tell might be behind his back. Raven pulled up a chair directly behind her brother. Though she nodded at the other poker players, she didn’t have Charles’ impeccable manners. 

The game started and June drifted away to attend to her hostess duties. Several times she met Raven’s curious eyes. She had twisted in her chair and was watching the members of the club laugh, dance, sing and play. She looked intent and confused. Charles played as impeccably as he spoke and walked. He played well; it wasn’t too long until the pile of money by his left hand grew. Byron’s mouth crinkled in a manner that June knew that he was confused. June was sure that she had seen the finger-to-the-forehead tell several times. Byron had worked with less before. He shouldn’t be losing. There was something different about Charles, more than being respectful.

Finally, Raven kicked Charles’ chair. Charles sighed and expressed his regrets. He counted his money, handing a good wad to Raven. She pocketed it with a grin. The rest he split between the other poker players. “Thank you for the game, gentlemen,” he said. “It was an educational experience.” He stood and offered an arm to his sister. 

June was waiting for him at the club’s exit. Lily was ready with the Xavier’s outer garments. Charles helped Raven with her coat and then slid into his own. He smiled at June and tipped his hat with as much style as anyone from the Rat Pack did. “Thank you for the wonderful evening, June.”

June’s blood ran cold. Byron would not have told this rich, white boy her true name. It had to be a warning, but a warning for what? 

Why had Charles Xavier (was that his real name?) walked into their club? June suddenly felt like a mark, but she had no idea what the con had been. It didn’t fall into a pattern of any of the cons with which she was familiar.

She would be checking the club safe as soon as possible.

*


	2. Less Than a Scale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many years after More Than a Poker Game, June’s granddaughter had slowly become secretive.

*

June’s granddaughter had slowly become secretive. When June asked Neal about it, he admitted that he hadn’t spoken to April in months. Whatever was the problem, it wasn’t due to Neal. June started asking around quietly. Every response was the same, within the last couple of months April had pulled back from others. No one knew of any event that could have precipitated it or if anything horrible had happened to April. Everyone was as worried and uninformed as June. Neal and Peter had even checked all violent crimes that might have crossed April’s path. Nothing revealed itself. Neal also told her that they had checked for drugs. June wanted to be offended at the thought but Neal assured her that they hadn’t found any evidence of any addictive substance (except coffee) and that April wouldn’t know that they had tossed her room. 

The answer to April landed literally on her front stoop. An older man in a wheelchair with a beautiful, African woman with white hair at his side asked to speak to June and April. June asked the kitchen for tea and some privacy. As expected, the two did not discuss more than small talk until all of June’s help were out of eavesdropping distance.

The woman introduced herself as Ororo. She was a teacher at the man’s boarding school, Xavier’s School for Gifted Children. Ororo and Professor Xavier were sure that April would be perfect for the school. April seemed interested but she kept looking to June for her opinion. June knew that there was something happening. Ororo and Xavier were playing a con of some sort and April was moments away from joining in the same con against her own grandmother.

Xavier raised a hand slightly and Ororo paused, somewhat surprised. “I’m sorry,” Xavier said. “It took me this long to place the name. June, it’s been a very long time.”

June leaned back. “We’ve met?”

Xavier smiled, slightly abashed. He touched two fingers to his temple. “I was barely out of school and I visited one of your husband’s gaming halls. It was before I earned my degree. I introduced myself as Charles Xavier.”

And just like that, June could clearly see this man, younger and with the hard blonde teen at his side. The tell of the two fingers to the forehead. “I remember you. You won at the Byron’s table and…”

_Please don’t mention Raven_ , a voice spoke in her head. _Yes, I am a telepath._ Charles confirmed June’s thought before it could be fully formed. _Ororo and I are mutants. Our school is designed for mutants._

“You gave back all the money you had won,” June finished smoothly.

Charles smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye. He was very pleased with how she covered the telepathic conversation. He sobered and cast a glance at April. June finally faced what Charles had been hinting.

April was a mutant.

Considering how vicious the local riots and protests against mutants had been, June tried not to be hurt that April had not shared her problem. June wrapped her arms around her beloved granddaughter. “I will love you no matter what,” she whispered in her hair.

April started crying, not the pretty crying that she had practiced in the mirror, but the horrible body-shaking sobs of inner torment. June held her close, murmuring words of comfort and acceptance. Finally, April settled. She gulped and breathed shaky breaths. Then she leaned back and looked at June. 

“I was so scared,” she admitted.

June tried not to show her disconcertment; April had not shed one tear. Her make-up was still perfect. April shuddered and breathed again. June watched as what looked like contacts slid off of April’s irises and under her eyelids. June focused on the child she loved who was afraid of abandonment. The mutations didn’t matter. Reacting the wrong way now would burn bridges. June was enough of a con-woman still to save her reactions until later, until she had privacy, until unrestrained body language would not hurt her granddaughter. “You have nothing to be scared of. We will take care of you.”

“What my school would teach you,” Charles diverted April’s attention and gave June a moment to gather her reserves, “would be to take care of yourself. We would teach you how to use your mutation to your advantage and to give you a safe place to completely be yourself. You would not have to hide anything at the school. There is nothing you have for which we haven’t prepared.”

April looked at June again for guidance. June offered her an encouraging smile. April took another deep breath and this one was less shaky than the last. Finally, she pulled up her skirt and lowered her knee high socks to reveal black scales on her legs. It must have developed in the last couple months. June suddenly remembered April in a store isle looking at creams for dry skin. April looked at Charles and Ororo and both looked interested and nothing else. Definitely no pity to be found there. June imitated their expression. She was horrified, but because her granddaughter had had to suffer through these changes alone. June was very careful to keep such thoughts off her face.

April relaxed, nearly boneless with relief. 

“We can go now,” Charles offered. “And let you two discuss your options.”

“Can I go to his school, Grandmama,” April pleaded.

“Of course,” June said. Anything to make April’s life easier. She addressed Charles and Ororo. “If you could give me all your contact information so that I can start the process to transfer April’s records?”

Charles nodded, with as much regality as June remembered from him long ago. _I do ask,_ he spoke into her head again, _that you be wise with who you would use to investigate us. We have many students who have been hunted for their deformities and have police records, mostly for theft._

June nodded. She would be very careful. She wouldn’t want to endanger those other students any more than she wanted to endanger April. Not to mention that those same students would probably be April’s classmates soon. June remembered that April’s school was ending a semester and beginning a new one and April would have gym. April had been worrying about the future. June hoped that her granddaughter had not been planning to run away to avoid exposure, but there were tiny indications of just that all over the house. Xavier had wonderful timing. June would need to push to change schools soon. When April needed to suffer through the horrors of gym, it wouldn’t happen where she would be harassed for being a mutant.

Ororo was speaking of special classes and opportunities, of the phone in every dorm room so she could call home whenever needed and the infirmary stocked to deal with sudden mutations. June was pleased with the information. Of course, she would visit. Often, if at all possible. Her granddaughter would know her love. June was not hiding her away from the world as if she was ashamed. April was growing excited with the prospect, even if she grabbed June’s hand and held on tight. She was still worried but not as much. She was opening up, returning to the cheerful, upbeat, mischievous person that June had missed.

Charles voice was in her head again. _Thank you, for accepting her. Accepting us. This has been the most pleasant student recruitment of school history._

June mourned for the other students, the ones where their parents hadn’t been conmen and women, the ones who couldn’t keep their surprise and fright out of their body language when faced with the mutations. The parents that reacted first and then thought about it must still be paying for their inexperience. June was sure that some of the children were loved, but their parents had been too shocked to show it at crunch time. She was just as sure that some of the children had been thrown out of their homes for being too different.

June knew that Xavier’s School for Gifted Children had just become one of her favorite charities. For however rich Charles Xavier had been, he was raising and caring for many children just because regular society didn’t accept them. June knew first hand that children were expensive. June would lighten his load, in thanksgiving for helping April.

*


	3. More Than a Partner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June needs to know more about Xavier and can think of only one person.

*

June trusted Neal, she really did, but Neal was a conman. He used information like a weapon and he thought of himself first. Neal was a live and let live type, but something stopped June from telling him about April’s mutation. Neal wouldn’t maliciously reveal April’s mutation but he would say something, endangering her, to get himself out of a tough spot. June had no doubt that Neal would try to mitigate the damages after the fact, but it was too much of a risk to April. June had survived by listening to her gut. Whoever had coined the phrase ‘honor among thieves’ had been a starry-eyed romantic that didn’t live in the real world. She wouldn’t tell Neal. June didn’t want to hire a private investigator; they were an unknown that could potentially bring danger to Xavier’s school and then to April.

June could only see one solution, the only lawman June could trust. So she knocked on the Burke’s door promptly at eleven on a Saturday morning. Of course, she had made an appointment first. Peter opened the door at the first knock. Elizabeth was not anywhere to be found but her presence was felt in the beautiful coffee service and tasty appetizers on the dining room table. Peter was an impatient if proper host, yet another thing for which to thank Elizabeth.

Peter waited for her to take two sips of coffee before blurting out, “What did Neal do?”

June was taken back momentarily but could see why he would assume this meeting was about his CI. “It’s not about Neal.”

Peter showed his blazing intellect with his next word. “April.”

“Yes.”

“You figured out the problem.”

“April is a mutant.”

Peter reacted like the professional he was; he thought about it and filed April’s actions into mutant behavior and decided that it fit. “Is it affecting her health?” His reaction revealed the depth of his caring.

“Not too much, but she will need a trustworthy doctor.”

“Do you need me to find one?” Peter looked intrigued by the challenge.

“There’s one associated with the school that came to recruit April.”

Peter raised an eyebrow.

“Two mutants came by the house to introduce themselves and to pitch their school, Xavier’s School for Gift Children. They drew April out of her secrecy –she had been planning to run away- and for that, I will forever be grateful but… the school’s founder is a telepath.”

June knew that Peter had absorbed all the implications, but he was waiting for June to voice her concerns. Definitely a man trained by his wife; he knew that half of solving a woman’s problem was letting her explain it. “April wants to go to the school, but I have some reservations. I would like a suspicious eye come with us on her visit, someone who can do background checks without drawing attention to the school. Xavier mentioned that several of his students have had brushes with the law because they were runaways.”

Peter brushed aside the minor offenses with a wave of his hand. That didn’t concern him. He could ignore that. With his every gesture, Peter was proving that he was worthy of June’s trust. Peter asked if he could confide June’s secret to Elizabeth. June decided that as a lawman’s wife, Elizabeth had plenty of practice keeping secrets.

“Can El come with us?” Peter asked.

June was surprised.

Peter looked a little abashed. “I don’t get to spend a lot of time with my wife as it is,” honest as always. “And El has great insights. Not to mention that when we go as a group, April would probably be more comfortable with El than me. We’re also going to have to, at the very least, have dinner together and get to know each other enough that we’d know if someone is in our heads planting ideas.”

“Agreed.” June had been about to ask Peter over for dinner for that very reason. “Tomorrow night?” she suggested. “Neal will be out.”

“What is Neal,” he started. “Nevermind. I don’t want to know. I’ll see if El is free.”

“Everyone would prefer if April is transferred before the new semester,” June explained the time limit.

Peter nodded. “I’ll be there tomorrow even if El can’t. Can I bring anything?”

“Just yourself, my cook will take care of everything else.”

“It’s a plan.”

*


	4. Less Than a Confidant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner with Peter and Elizabeth was as pleasant as expected.

*

Dinner with Peter and Elizabeth was as pleasant as expected. April would have preferred if June had picked Neal and didn’t understand the choice. The teen was slowly warming up to the lawman and his wife. Together, the four of them wrote out a list of questions concerning the school. El, with her elegant handwriting, copied it so that they’ll be able to refer back to it when they returned from their campus tour. For now, both copies of the list of questions were put into a safe of which Neal was unaware. El started telling stories of her time at college. Then Peter told a story of Neal that had them all laughing as the man in question walked in the door. It made for a beautiful excuse with Neal pouting about being excluded.

The timing was too good to be a coincidence. Peter had _known._

Peter was some sort of mutant, completely under the radar and perhaps uniquely qualified for the task ahead. Suddenly, the inexplicable childlessness was explained. Oh, a New York working couple had many reasons to delay or abstain from children, but the x-gene had to be a contributing factor. 

June caught Peter’s eye and raised her glass in a discrete toast. Peter inclined his head in wry amusement. He hadn’t volunteered the information, but rather had chosen to expose it to June than risk Neal hearing April’s secret. He wasn’t worried about June knowing, not that she could prove her suspicions. 

Yes, June had picked the perfect lawman for the task.

*


	5. More Than a Fair Dealer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xavier was surprised by June’s associates.

*

Xavier was surprised by June’s associates. He welcomed them with the same Old Money Manners that June had remembered from their first meeting. He used that old tell of two fingers to his temple and he still seemed confused about Peter. He left April’s recruitment to the teens and teachers and focused on the Burkes. El was easy enough and June was sure that her thoughts were matching her actions. It was Peter that flummoxed the mutants. Teachers came and went, each engaging the FBI agent in conversation but none of them seemed to click.

And then the stern headmaster, Scott Summers, with his strange red sunglasses made an oblique math joke and the two were debating some math topic that June didn’t understand. Everyone else looked bemused at the conversation. 

“MATHletes,” the infirmary doc complained to El. The two men trailed the rest of the tour group around the school. June saw the state-of-the-art infirmary and the cozy dorm rooms. She even got to meet the girl who could walk through solid matter that would be April’s roommate. The old con woman couldn’t help but wonder about the possibilities of Kitty being a thief. From Peter’s narrow gaze, he knew exactly what she was thinking. His eyes twinkled and June swallowed a laugh. Peter would catch her if she fell off the straight and narrow. He would figure a way; he was stubborn like that.

The tour walked them through the common areas and the classrooms. June was impressed with the quality of education and the teacher to student ratios. April’s excitement increased with every step. Instead of dread for leaving her friends, she was starting to look forward to making new ones among all the other opportunities.

It was such a nice day for January, everyone wore their jackets and ate lunch outside with the students. Once the students finished their lunches, some worked on school work and others played various games. Peter was distracted watching the basketball game. The teams were rather unevenly matched, but no one had complained so the teachers were letting the students determine their own set of fair rules. Peter wasn’t watching the kids that they were bugs under a microscope but more like he was keeping score. After the younger team was down fifteen points he looked at his wife beseechingly.

El kissed him and told him, “Go play.”

Peter gave her a bright smile and his jacket and gun, leaving on the harness. He talked his way onto the younger team within moments and had them playing as a coherent team in minutes. The entire school staff watched avidly. By the time the younger team tied the older, most of the mutants had lost their hatred of law enforcers and some were in awe. Peter genuinely liked children and it reflected in his actions.

“I’ll double his salary if he’d come teach here,” Xavier told El. “You could come as well and do whatever you wanted in the kitchen.”

She laughed at him. “Thank you, but we are very happy in our current professions.”

“Seminars, perhaps?” Xavier asked. “Perhaps he could be a referee for the games. The students will trust his sense of fairness.”

“I’ll talk to him.” El looked at April and June. “I’m sure an occasional night out of the city will be welcomed.”

“We will work around his schedule,” Mr. Summers promised.

*


	6. Less Than Completely Honest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking about secrets.

The ride back to the city was quiet. All of the women riding with Peter were lost in their own thoughts. Peter knew better than to fill the silence. June was pleased she had already hired Mozzie to clear their respective homes of any bugs. Mozzie might be curious but his respect for June would keep him from planting bugs. When everyone finally started talking, June wanted to be sure that the flood of information was not being recorded.

“So what’s your mutation?” April asked as soon as the door to June’s beautiful house shut behind them. June would have chided her, but she wanted the answers to questions that only impertinent teenagers could ask.

Peter smiled as he took off his jacket. “What makes you think that I have a mutation?”

“All of the teachers at the school have mutations. Xavier offered you a job, so you must have one too.”

Peter looked at his wife first. “He didn’t offer me a job, hon.”

El reached out to grab his hand. “He offered both of us jobs, and pitched his offer to me.”

“Did he go into your head?” Peter demanded with a dark voice.

“Only for privacy and after asking permission first,” El said.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“I’m not distracted,” April sing-songed. “What’s your mutation, Peter?”

Peter shrugged. “It’s a kind of radar. That little nagging feeling that trouble –not just bad trouble- is coming, but more advanced. I know the direction, physically and metaphorically.”

“My house must ping on that radar constantly,” June mused.

“Constantly,” Peter agreed emphatically.

“It must be more than that,” April protested. “Xavier wouldn’t want you just for that.”

Peter nodded with the logic. “People I am connected to, I can find anywhere. I could probably find El anywhere in the world.”

“And Neal?”

Peter stared at the teen seriously as he answered. “Now? If I’m within a thousand miles, I probably could track him down.”

“So the anklet’s just for show.” April sounded upset on the thief’s behalf.

“That anklet is to keep Neal’s head on straight,” Peter argued and June could certainly understand the point of view and she sent her granddaughter a look that said so.

“Why didn’t just say that you were a mutant in the beginning?” April asked. She wanted to find something wrong in Peter’s actions. June almost understood the teenage mentality. April much preferred Neal to the federal agent, but Peter grew on a person.

“I didn’t think you’d appreciate meeting someone like me, whose mutation protects him against being outted,” Peter said easily.

And April couldn’t argue with that.

It revealed something to June and since Peter was answering questions, she asked, “It keeps you under the radar, doesn’t it? Even from telepaths?” June wondered how much of a shield the agent possessed.

Peter grinned at her. “Apparently. I hadn’t tested it until today though.”

“All this hiding from Neal,” April grumbled. “He’s probably a mutant too. All that charm, maybe a… broadcasting empath?” she suggested using terminology that they had learned at the school.

Peter shook his head. “Nope. He’s not.”

“How can you be sure?” April demanded.

June figured it out first. “Radar.”

Peter shrugged but didn’t deny it. “I try not to go snooping, there’s just too much occurring at any one time to be effective, but if I had just met with you, April, instead of checking if any violent crimes had happened in your school, I would have known what the problem was.”

“You checked violent crimes?” April asked.

“June was worried so she came to Neal and I and it was something we could do.”

June was pleased that the agent managed not to mention searching the teen’s room.

“Oh.” April turned to El. “What’s your mutation?” June hadn’t considered the possibility. She had simply believed tat Xavier had offered her a position to lure in Peter.

El was digging in her purse. “I can taste emotions.” She pulled out a tin of cinnamon candies and offered them to April. “Surprise tastes like nutmeg, which can be overpowering by itself, but when blended with cinnamon, it’s pleasant. I built my catering business on matching emotions –like at weddings- to specific foods.”

April and the June accepted the candies. June paused before putting it into her mouth. “The coffee and appetizers,” she realized.

“Chosen to comfort and clarify,” El confessed. “I know how you like your coffee, but I could have done better with a choice of teas.”

“You two could run long cons effortlessly,” April said admiringly. “El would handle the mark and Peter would handle the law.”

Peter huffed.

“Xavier offered me money for a storefront,” El changed the subject.

“What does he want in exchange?” Peter was suspicious.

“He wants to be able to use it reconcile mutants with their families. He’d want me there to apply food and drink to the emotions and smooth the way. He’d do it in such a way that I could have a catering kitchen in the back.”

“A tea house,” June decided, “would be just the thing. Quiet, exclusive. I would invest in that. I could hire the managers to run it.” She had wondered how to help families broken by a bad reaction the to the x-gene.

“I don’t think I want to,” El confessed.

Peter encouraged, “At least run some numbers with June. It’ll be a good cover for when Neal goes snooping.”

“Why aren’t we telling Neal?” April demanded.

“We will,” Peter promised, “but we all lose if we do it too soon.” There was such a surety in his tone that the teen settled.

June wondered what the agent knew and how he knew it. Peter and El had shared too many secrets to not be holding some in reserve.


	7. More Than a Bluff

Neal felt hurt that June had confided in Peter and not her fellow thief. He couldn’t image what had brought the two together, but he was going to find out. He was disappointed when Mozzie didn’t plant a few bugs when he was clearing June’s house last. Mozzie insisted that his reputation demanded that he give his clients the privacy for which they pay.

Neal did know that both El and June were checking their finances and June was looking at real estate. June was also investigating a frightening number of charities that assisted runaway children. It took a bit of meditative painting to realize that April had been planning to run away, for whatever reason. She was the beginning of the collusion between June and the Burkes. Neal had poked and prodded June, Peter and then El, but all of them were stubbornly quiet as to why they were suddenly friends. Neal would have gone straight to April, but the girl had transferred to a boarding school upstate.

When Neal was investigating whether or not he could call up April for answers, he realized that the school specialized in teaching runaway children. Dr. Xavier –the founder of the school- was a professor that had written a detailed paper on needed elements for a place of reconciliation, specifically for parents and their runaway child. June had been studying the paper and comparing it with the building blueprints that were on the market.

June had finally picked a building and put in a bid and now Xavier’s paper was covered in notes. El had written all of her requirements for using the kitchen to cook for her catering. For the restaurant –no it looked to be more of a tea house- she had left ideas for food and June had written Neal’s name by the art pieces suggested for decoration. Peter had added a note stressing the fact that Neal was supposed to reproduce the famous art works and not steal them. Neal chuckled at the sight of the familiar handwriting and read how Xavier hoped that the art works would be conversational starters and how all of the students were familiar with the pieces and would be able show off their education with them.

So April had tried to run away, but Peter, June and El had stopped it and then shipped April off to a school where she could get a prime education plus therapy among students of similar persuasions. But why had she run away? And why wouldn’t anyone tell Neal what happened?  
June had gone to Peter, which probably meant something better combatted legally. There had to be paperwork somewhere. Peter was meticulous about his paperwork, even about his personal jobs. Neal would have to get into Peter’s safe, unnoticed.

Peter did have paperwork in his house safe but they were all on how to make arrests for petty theft _go away_. He had a couple of police files on Xavier’s students. Every one of them had stolen food. Neal could see how a softie like Peter would want to help starving kids have a chance as adult without a police record.

Petty theft. April had been involved in a couple of cons. Had she executed one of her own in preparation for running away? Had she needed cash and didn’t think she could have asked her grandmother? Peter would be the optimal person for returning… whatever in exchange for April’s clean record.

But still, the question remained: What could April have possibly done to believe that running away was the answer? And where did Peter hide that paperwork?


	8. Less Than a Hit

*wc*xmen*

 

Neal and Peter had to stop at the judicial building for a warrant. There were protesters outside. Neal wasn’t sure what mutant case was being decided –Peter had kept him in the FBI building for days- but it looked like it could get ugly.

Peter snagged Neal’s arm and led him through security and into the judge’s chambers. He quickly concluded business and led the way back to the car. “What do you think?” Peter asked him, nodding at the shouting protesters on both sides of the equation.

“It’d be a great day to be a pickpocket.” Neal could spot two working the crowds from the front passenger’s seat. “Lots of bumping and congestion and a distraction already available, not to mention a ready target if the mark figures out they lost their wallet. All those enemies right across the road.”

Peter probably saw the same two light-fingered thieves slipping through the Human First side. “Which side would you work?”

“Oh, the humans,” Neal said blithely. “You can never know a mutant’s power and most of them are so poor because they can’t get a job that they aren’t worth the effort.”

Peter huffed, but he didn’t disagree. He drove in silence for a while. Something sparked his attention, it might have been the tea house they just passed or the gallery up ahead. Or the combination reminded him of his wife’s project. “Have you finished El’s paintings yet?”

“Three of them. June said that they wouldn’t be opening the store until next month. I wouldn’t wait until the last minute for El. Why?”

“A nearby counselor has a runaway and a parent at a good place –emotionally- to meet and was hoping to use the tea house. He believes that even if it’s mid-construction, he can work out a resolution. He just needs a neutral ground. Half of the dining room is completed. El was thinking about putting up the art and then taking it down again after the meeting.”

“Sure,” Neal said agreeably. “She can have the completed works.” He wondered how ‘nearby’ the counselor lived and how the man had known about the tea house’s ulterior purpose. How had El and June advertised it? Or was it a counselor they had consulted with?

*wc*xmen*


	9. More Than a Close Call

Neal had been minding his own business (mostly) and not planning any con (again, mostly). He had been dropping off the canvas reproductions (they weren’t forgeries if the buyer knew they weren’t the originals) and had been checking the security of the tea house (for the women’s sake, not because he wanted to know if he could return at a later date and exchange the forgeries (reproductions) for less perfect copies).

Then Elizabeth got a text message. Neal could read her surprise and consternation on her face. She twitched in such a way Neal was sure the text was concerning him. She very carefully didn’t look from her phone to his face and Neal knew he wanted to read that message. Elizabeth picked up his tea cup, though he wasn’t done drinking it, and told him that the family counselor was on his way and had requested minimal staff.

Neal smiled and shrugged and did what any self-respecting person would do on his way out the door: he picked Elizabeth’s pocket for her phone. He waited until he was two blocks away to tap in El’s security code and check her messages.

The most recent one was from Peter. It read ‘Why is Neal still there? The kid won’t come in the door as long as Neal is there. She’s skittish and looking for an excuse to skip.’

That was… a surprise. Neal thought he had left Peter on the other side of town at the office. Peter wouldn’t have followed him out of the door, he had nothing to hide concerning this meeting. If Peter had intended on seeing El, he would have given Neal a ride to the tea house.

But the message signified that he was watching, closely. Where was he? Neal tried to remember the sightlines of the tea house. How had Peter staked out the place to watch all entrances? Neal made a habit of leaving a different way from entering and Peter knew that. So how had Peter known? Why was Peter watching so closely? Peter wouldn’t have encouraged El to build the tea house/counseling house if he thought it would be dangerous and he would only be watching this closely if he thought there would be a danger to El.

Right now, Neal had to return the phone to El in such a way that the runaway girl didn’t realize that he was there and he had to do it before El realized that he had stolen the phone in the first place. He also had to find Peter’s hiding place and avoid its sightlines so that Peter wouldn’t see him return (the phone that he had… borrowed).

Neal could do all that and more. He turned to go back to the tea house. The phone vibrated. A text message popped onto the screen. ‘Neal, don’t even think about it. Stay where you are.’  
Neal’s head jerked up and he looked at all of the buildings. Where was Peter? Theoretically, El might have noticed that her phone was missing and called Peter on the landline. Actually that was probably what happened. So how did Peter know that he was about to return the phone… and possibly see the runaway child? What was it about the child that they were so urgently keeping Neal away?

Did they think that Neal would judge the child? Did they think that Neal would be a bad influence? Did they think that Neal would get upset that Peter was making her burglary charges go away while making Neal face the consequences for his?

Neal took another step closer to the tea house.

A text obligingly appeared on the phone, just a simple, ‘Neal.’

Neal looked at all the buildings again. Where could Peter possibly be?

A black sedan pulled up beside the thief. It was obviously from the government and it had been nowhere on tea house’s street. Neal knew who was driving even before he heard the growled, “Get in the car.”

Neal opened the door and sat in the passenger’s seat with a bright smile. “No van for surveillance? Why yes Peter, I’d love a comfortable ride back to the office.”

“Phone.” He demanded with his hand out.

Neal relinquished it without a struggle. “So how closely do you track my whereabouts?”

“There’s an app for that.”

Neal was impressed. “I didn’t realize that the US Marshals were… hip with the times.”

Peter was still mad at him, but the joke broke through the ice. “There’s a lot you don’t know. And here and now, it’s none of your business.”

“I was just curious,” Neal complained.

“Quit whining. You were nosey and bored and, in this case, could destroy the one chance of this family reconciling. If you are so bored I’ve got a stack of paperwork for you to do.”

As a punishment from Peter, it was mild, but still Peter knew that boredom (and paperwork) was one thing Neal hated most.

“No new case?” Neal asked hopefully.

“Not for you.”

“You’re not going to leave me behind.”

“Watch me.” Okay, so Peter was a little more upset than expected. Still, Neal would cajole him into a better mood by lunch.

*


	10. Less Than A Jackpot

Neal had known that Peter had been hiding things from him. His phone was now password protected and Neal hadn’t been able to crack it. He dearly wanted to, to view the Marshals’ app for his tracking anklet. Neal had a feeling that when he did, the password would be something like ‘nea1itolduN*’. Then US Senator Kelly (whom Mozzie, June and the Burkes all hated even though their politics rarely intersected) got a bill to pass, requiring all governmental employees to pass his ‘X-Gene Test.’ 

A couple of people in the office turned in their letters of resignation, but no one that Neal really knew. None seemed worthwhile for blackmail or leverage. Besides, Peter was keeping him terrifically busy. Emphasis on ‘terrifically.’ Neal got to steal a Monet - _for the LAW_. The best week of his life hit a bump when Hughes demanded a meeting.

Neal didn’t know why, Hughes had signed off on the Monet steal (and Neal had handed the painting back after the case, and it had even been the real one). Hughes did that soul-searching stare that always made Neal feel like a kid in his principal’s office. “You like the status quo?”

“I could do with a few more miles on my radius,” Neal immediately told him with a winning smile.

Hughes was not amused. “You know about Kelly’s bill.”

“It doesn’t concern me, sir,” Neal was quick to tell him. Yes, Neal was technically a governmental employee but, “I’ve already supplied my blood for the X-Gene Test and nothing’s going to show.” Enough people had been suspicious of Neal’s success that he had been tested four times to no avail. 

As if Neal needed special powers to steal. He didn’t need to cheat like that. Peter’s voice in his head told him that he preferred to have more tools to use than a single mutant power. Not all problems can be solved with a hammer.

“It’s forcing out some good people.” Hughes sounded incredibly bitter and Neal thought he saw where this was going. If Hughes was a mutant, Neal would eagerly switch out his blood for a non-mutant’s. That kind of leverage was priceless.

“If you want to keep your team the way it is, I suggest you do something. Dismissed.”

Neal walked out of the office in a daze. Was it Jones? Or Diana? _Or Peter?_ Hughes hadn’t told him, probably on purpose. Which meant it was probably Jones or Diana, for whom Neal was less like to fall on his sword, but in this case? Neal had basically been told by the Section Chief of the FBI to steal from them. Yes, he had been told in such a way that Hughes could disavowal all knowledge if Neal got caught, but Neal was not going to get caught.

It would be an honor. Later, Neal would figure out which FBI agent owed him the favor and make them pay up, but for now, he had three vials of blood to switch.

*


	11. More Than A Fold

Peter and El had discussed Senator Kelly’s bill in length. They could foresee the discrimination, but they also knew that it would be hard to prove that Peter had any type of mutation. His powers were so subtle that no one would ever catch him using them. To most of the population, it would appear that Peter’s X-gene was inactivate and it would be harder to push the hard-working agent out of the FBI for a gene marker that Peter could conceivably not know he had. Peter hoped that he would be a bridge toward acceptance by the general populous.

So he submitted his blood for testing and waited.

In the meantime, he chose cases that would make his team happy. Neal got to steal a Monet. Jones got to prove a fellow soldier innocent and Diana got to be her regular badass self. 

The test results started to trickle into the office. The vast majority –Neal among them- were entirely blasé about receiving a ‘normal’ report, but two agents were caught completely off guard at the positive result. If Peter had realized that they were unaware of their mutation, he would have warned them. He had assumed that the agents were like him –physically able to pass and hoping to positively represent the ones who couldn’t.

Special Agent Steve Portman had no idea. He had hysterics in the middle of the office and had to be subdued and transported to the hospital for shock. He was declared mentally unfit for duty and drummed out of the FBI before he had even checked out of the hospital. He was vowing a wrongful termination suit and demanding a retest. Peter wished him luck but knew that any honest X-gene blood test would garner the same results.

Special Agent Felicity Moore had also been taken unaware but was fighting to keep her job by proving she was the still best in the IT department. Peter knew of the hazing and tried to keep out of it, since he didn’t want to raise suspicion by defending Moore. He did keep others away when she broke down and had a crying jag in the women’s bathroom. No one else needed to witness the stress getting to her, so Peter stood at the door and lied to the females coming to use the room, telling them that a toilet overflowed and that maintenance was on their way. Peter wandered away just before Moore strode out of the restroom, eyes mostly dry and her make-up perfect, ready to face the world again.

When Peter’s own results were delivered to his desk, he didn’t bother to open it.

Neal, the nosy bastard, poked fun at him, but Peter knew what the results were. Neal nodded as if confirming something in his head –he couldn’t have suspected, could he?- and focused on Jones and Diana. He was watching them like a hawk. Peter wasn’t sure why, neither of them were mutants.

In the office, the day passed quietly and the handful of mutant blips on his radar winnowed down to one. It was easy for Peter to know when Moore was leaving the building and catch up with her away from any familiar faces and surveillance. 

Moore was suspicious when Peter offer her his own envelope of results. She opened it and her face hardened before she hissed at him. “I hadn’t thought that you’d rub in your normal results like the rest of them.”

“Wait! What!” Peter snatched back paperwork. Sure enough, it read: X-Gene-Negative. “How did that happen?” he muttered.

“You are a mutant?” Moore stared. “You knew and took the test anyway?”

Peter scratched the back of his head, clues whirling through his brain. How had this happened? “Ah, yes,” he finally told her. “I wanted to make a difference. I thought you were similar.”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t know. I still don’t know if I have any _special powers_. Do you have any?”

“I have a radar and,” he waved the papers, “I’m undetectable from most anyone else’s.” Not that he thought that his mutation had anything to do with the negative results. Who knew about Peter’s mutation? El, June, the people at Xavier’s school and… Hughes. Peter had saved Hughes’ life back as a rookie by using his mutation, but they had never discussed it. Ever. Had Hughes thought that he was protecting Peter? He certainly would have noticed how Peter was spoiling his team and concluded that Peter was having a last hurrah. How would have Hughes…? Neal. And his nosiness for Peter’s results and the others. Hughes had gotten the thief to switch blood samples for the White Collar team by not telling him which member was a mutant.

Moore looked incredibly jealous.

“I’m sorry,” Peter finally said.

Moore laughed bitterly. 

“I want you to know that you are not alone. And if you need anything, let me know.”

Moore swallowed hard and finally nodded.

“Did you know that my wife just opened a tea house?”

Moore looked confused at the sudden change in subject.

“You should try it out,” Peter encouraged. “Just let her pick your meal. Tell her I’m buying. She’ll understand.”

Moore nodded and breathed shakily. “Thank you,” she finally said, before walking off alone.

There was nothing more Peter could do. She had to figure out the rest of her life on her own.

*

**Author's Note:**

> This was started as a Beta-Prompt: First Class/White Collar, something with Byron and June. The 700 words morphed into yet another on-going series/never-ending 'verse.


End file.
